A Grief Observed
by Anagnos
Summary: A fateful tragedy strikes one night for a young longneck who loses everything he ever cared about in a blink of an eye, but when he receives another chance at life he finds something he never expected to have in his life ever again.


**A Grief Observed**

The sweet, joyful laughter echoed throughout the valley. The noise engulfed those within the radius, completely capturing their attention to focus on the shouts in the distance and rendering any logical thought or conclusion practically impossible. However, the clear winner of the loudest one ever was known practically by everyone in the small longneck herd and it made the grownups and children alike smile in delight.

The younglings had often heard from elders that it was their duty to look after others once the previous generations had passed away to the Great Beyond, where all of their lost relatives and friends were waiting for them to arrive. That is if you actually believed in such things. One such small dark green longneck didn't yet have the understanding or wisdom that many grownups had. However, the elders also say that one should enjoy their childhood to the fullest, because before you even became aware, it would be over in a flash. Just memories gone by.

Shorty's laughter was always distinct compared to the other longnecks, as it almost sounded like he had an odd spluttering laugh whenever he found himself laughing too hard. Shorty burst out laughing with tears streaming down his face when he saw the most entertaining sight in front of him that resulted because of the group's current game. His gaze was completely focused on two of his friends' forms on top of one another. It was simply too perfect to miss out on.

''Hah! Look at the two of you! You look absolutely ridiculous like that!''

The only thing he received from the other two longnecks were series of angry grunts and hoots. Finally, one of them couldn't bear the taunting any longer.

''Cut it out, Shorty! This is not funny at all! And for the ancestors sake, Dorne, will you get off of me right this instant?''

Dorne snarled in reply. ''That's not as easy as it may look, Mena! I can't exactly move when we are intertwined with each other, you know? Besides, this is totally your fault!''

''My fault? What makes you say that?''

''If you hadn't jumped in my way, I would've had Shorty for sure! Thanks to you he still hasn't been caught and now we're in this mess!''

Shorty grinned. ''You know, Mena, he has a point there. You totally did do that.''

The female longneck sighed. ''It obviously doesn't matter much any more. Seeing as we're stuck.'' Her intention had been to catch Shorty before he would vanish among the thick vegetation around them that made their playground. Looking for him there would've been next to impossible feat to achieve, his coloration would only make things harder for the both of them. Inside her she felt nothing but deep frustration at herself for making such a foolish decision when her partner clearly had the upper hand. But not like it mattered much now. Mena called to her other partner on the other side of the meadow.

''Shorty, when you're done having fun at our expense, could you come and help us out of this mess, please?''

Despite his intent to sit this one out and watch them get rid of each other on their own, Shorty couldn't do that to his best friends. They would do it for him, after all. He called back to the female in a calm tone to reassure them that help was on the way.

''No need to worry, you guys, I'm coming.''

''Finally… I almost thought I would have to spend the entire night here with her,'' Dorne cried.

Mena put on a fake face of shock and anguish. ''You mean, you don't like me?''

''Eugh, no way. And you do realize that I know you're faking it, right? Fooling me like that would've worked seasons ago, but not anymore. You're gonna have to try harder to get me to feel sorry for you.''

She raised an eyebrow. ''Is that a challenge?''

''Maybe.''

Mena grinned widely. ''Then that's one I will gladly accept! If I win, you will have to admit that I'm far better in this game than you. Can your ego handle that, Dorne?''

Dorne snorted. ''Lose to a girl one like yourself? There's no way that's ever going to happen. Fine… if that happens, and that's a mighty big if, I will do that. But, if I win, you're going to be the one to find my lunch for me for the rest of the season. Deal?'' Dorne was sure that he would triumph against her. He would let nothing get in his way of winning.

''Deal.''

Their companion rolled his eyes in clear tediousness. ''If you two are quite done, can we get you out now or tomorrow?''

Both of them blushed in embarrassment of dismissing their current problem without any care in the world for a brief moment, much to the dismay of Shorty. It was an early noon, the air was cold and wind strong. Shorty could feel the cold wind hit his face as he and his friends sat down briefly to rest after having fun almost the entire morning. They weren't the only ones enjoying this day to the fullest, other children were playing nearby on the various parts of the valley as their parents made sure to keep a watchful eye on them in case of any trouble decided to suddenly pop out of hiding.

The children chased each other in circles, parents busy with both watching out for their children and catching up with others about any current matters that interested them. As for Shorty and his friends, they were too drained to join the others in their fun, so they opted to just sit back and watch them play with each other. All the while chatting with each other about almost everything they could think of.

Of all the things in the valley that Shorty loved the best was definitely the vast amount of space it offered to its inhabitants. It wasn't only an ideal place to rest and settle down, but also a very good place to play all sorts of games with the other kids of the herd. But if there was one thing that came in a close second, it would be that he got to share it with his family and friends whom meant the world to him.

One of the first things Shorty remembered about this place when he saw it for the first time was the aura of peacefulness that it radiated. Truth be told, he was only a small child back when they first arrived here and therefore couldn't remember much about it. His mother was always more than glad to tell him about their journey and all of the wondrous things they saw on the way to this beautiful patch of land.

There were nights when Shorty would just gaze upon the night sky for hours to no end. He would listen to the many sounds of the night and the soft snores of his family to ease his mind. Furthermore, on several occasions his mother would allow him to stay up a little later than usual to tell him marvellous tales of their kind. He always loved that part of her that was willing to bend the rules for her only son to make him smile. His mother often told him that he should smile more, as he looked very handsome according to her.

Shorty couldn't help but go down the memory lane, back when he felt the most happiest he had probably ever been. Not saying that their current period wasn't just as happy as their previous ones. By the ancestors... where had all of that time gone to? To Shorty it felt like it happened only a few days ago, even though in reality it happened a long time ago.

''I hope you kids are enjoying your time.''

The trio's thoughts were cut short by the clamorous but gentle voice. It was a voice that they all recognized. Shorty, however, didn't need to turn around when his mind had already registered who was behind him.

''We're good, thanks,'' Mena replied warmly with Dorne nodding in agreement with her. The adult longneck's gaze switched to Shorty, and she smiled at him lovingly.

''How are you doing, my dear?''

Shorty smiled at his mother. ''I've never been any better, mother.''

She replicated the gesture and gave him a brief nuzzle, one that he initially shied away from out of fear that his friends would make fun of him, but after seeing that neither was focused on them, he quickly reciprocated his mother's action. ''That's good to hear indeed,'' she said.

''Why are you here?''

His mother smiled again at his reaction to her sudden arrival. ''I came to pick you up, we have things to do today.''

If one were to say that Shorty was confused, they wouldn't even come close to the truth. ''We do? What things exactly?''

She laughed softly but not in a judgmental manner at her son's obvious lack of remembrance of their discussion this morning. ''You really don't remember? You promised to help me clean the nest today. In fact, I recall you practically begged me to have you help me do it.''

Shorty finally grasped what she meant by that, and the utter shame and humiliation was simply too much for him to accept. _How could I have forgotten about that? _He mused.

How he wished he could just disappear off the face of the world right now and come back when everyone had forgotten about his stumble. Maybe his head really was sometimes up in the sky puffies like his mother would say once in a while.

''Mom, I'm so sorry. I just…'' But any apology quickly died down his throat when he saw his mother smile fondly at him. At that moment, he knew he wasn't in any real trouble, which somewhat lifted his spirits up a notch. Still, he would likely receive some form of reprimand later. He had a funny feeling in his stomach that would surely happen.

''No need for apologies, my dear son. You do have a very selective memory.''

Shorty heard his friends giggle at that remark, and it caused him to plush severely. ''Mom… stop it. You're embarrassing me in front of them.''

''That's what we mothers do, son. We love to make life difficult for our dear children. Perhaps one day you will realize that when you have children of your own.''

''Mom…''

''Fine, I won't embarrass you too much for one day. I have many more seasons to do that.''

His friends giggled once more, but it was Mena, who finally dared to open her mouth. ''Oh, I can't wait to see that. It'll be glorious to witness!'' Dorne nodded in agreement, unable to keep his giggling under control.

Shorty could only growl in anger, the tables having been turned on him when quite recently it was he who was laughing at his friends expense. _I guess this is what I deserve... what goes around comes around. _Finally, his mother's voice brought him back to the present.

''Well, I hate to interrupt, but we really must be going now, Shorty. Say goodbye to your friends, you'll see them tomorrow again.''

He nodded to his mother's departing form before quickly turning his gaze to his friends. ''Well, see you guys later!''

They both nodded in reply. ''Will do,'' A teasing grin appeared on their faces. ''Have fun!''

Shorty let out another growl in their direction as he started to follow his mother. ''I'm going to make the two of you pay for that one!''

Mena grinned triumphantly. ''We'll see about that, _Shorty_.''

The green longneck groaned loudly and heard more guffaws as he left the area in a fast pace to both catch up to his mother's distant form and put some distance between him and his friends. Shorty had a way of walking that made him seem perpetually in a hurry, but in this case it was pretty much warranted, anything besides his current speed would only make his mother more inclined to keep him confided to the nest for the whole of tomorrow, a would be missed chance to play with his friends, so naturally Shorty did the exact opposite of what most children might do in this situation.

He still saw his mother was some ways away from his current position, so he changed his fast walking into full-blown running to catch up to her lest he make her accidentally upset. He covered the uneven ground with a great lolloping gait that even made Shorty almost cease for a moment to reflect on how fast he was going. Each one of his mighty strides brought him closer and closer to his destination, with the slightest of effort he ran even more faster until he finally reached his mother, sweat dropped from his forehead. He leaned against her for a brief moment to catch his breath, something that made the female smile softly and Shorty gave the biggest grin he could ever muster. She nodded in acknowledgment, he could feel how his heart begun bouncing madly due to his sprinting. He had probably never run in such manner before and one time was enough for him to consider some other option in the future.

Their nest was built on a gentle rise that sloped gradually away on every side, in front of the wide plain, dotted with huge trees, and on the verge of their nest, a medium-size lake where Shorty had spend a good chunk of his early childhood playing all kinds of games. These fields were home. Perhaps one had to go far away to appreciate it, seeing the everyday beauty for the wonder it was, and in that moment one could feel truly at peace. It may be a long walk over to his friends' nests, but Shorty wouldn't trade it for the world. He could see it thousand times and still not grow tired of it.

Spending the day with friends was something that Shorty wouldn't give up either, but coming home after a long day was something he always looked forward to. To see how the land had fared in their absence. Sure, it was pretty foolish to actually imagine that the land itself would embrace them as soon as they came back, that was reserved for living beings only.

''Alright, Shorty. Time to get to work, we have a lot on our paws today.''

Indeed there was. Shorty's nose immediately wrinkled in disgust of what he saw the nest had become. Over the days all sorts of litter now practically ruled over their nest, it would almost certainly cause someone who didn't like seeing such sights run away from the nest like there was a fire under their tail, and even Shorty had to stop himself from running away back to his friends and totally ditch his mother so that he wouldn't have to lift even one paw to clean the mess.

But what would that convey to his dear mother? That despite his demand to help her do this disgusting chore he instead chose to run away and leave his mother to do all the labour. It was something that made Shorty resent himself for even thinking about it for a brief second.

''Geez… there's a lot of it indeed.''

''Perhaps this will be a lesson in itself for you, my dear son. Because I won't be there forever to handle these things, so you will just have to one day learn to do it yourself.''

Shorty sighed. ''Yeah… I know that very well, mother. Still, I can't help but feel disgusted of what we have to do to clean all of this.''

''Oh, believe me, I do not like doing matters like this any more than you do. It's just

something we _have_ to do.''

That statement was more true than one could ever confirm. How many things were there in the world that no one really wanted to do, but instead had to be done no matter what? Perhaps there was not a clear answer to that, only your imagination. Shorty groaned and set out to work. ''It won't clean it by itself, right?''

His mother giggled. ''Stranger things have happened, but you're most certainly right about that, my son.''

They made small talk at some points during their work, asking about their day, their plans for the following day, basically everything that a mother and a son would talk about with each other, but most of the time they stayed quiet and put all of their focus on the task at hand. To clean the nest so that they could actually sleep in it tonight without causing too much discomfort for either of them, that would surely be a certain way no one would get one wink of sleep when the night finally fell upon them.

In the course of time, they at last managed to make room for themselves to lay their bodies down for the reminder of the day. It took them awhile to get it into the condition it currently was, but it would all be worth it now that they would be rewarded with sweet sleep after a long day of having fun and work. The thought made Shorty's lip curl upwards.

His mother sighed deeply, exhaustion loud and clear in her tone. ''Well, I'd say that does it. It looks far better than it did before. I believe we deserve some well earned rest.''

Shorty nodded in agreement. ''That we do… I didn't dare to think it would be exactly easy, but I also didn't consider it would be this tiresome. Is it always like this when you clean the nest by yourself?''

''It certainly feels that way, but since I am much bigger and stronger, I can get twice as much work done more quickly. Still, if it wasn't for your help, I think this would've taken far longer to accomplish, so… I can't take all the credit.''

The green longneck smiled bashfully at his mother's supportive remark. ''Well… when you put it like that it almost sounds like I'm some sort of a hero to you.''

''That's because you are.''

His smile only deepened, and he was about to say something in return when a long yawn cut him off. The female longneck only smiled more at his reaction and knew just what to do next. ''You're quite spent, aren't you, dear?''

Shorty nodded tiredly. ''You could say that. I've been playing with my friends all day and now this… it has completely exhausted me, I have no more strength left to use for anything for a while.''

''That's completely alright, Shorty, you're only a child after all. I wouldn't expect you to behave like us grownups do. I think it's time for you to go to sleep for tonight, dear. You'll have another eventful day tomorrow ahead of you. I can feel it.''

''Okay, but… how can you feel something like that, mom? Shouldn't it be impossible to do so?''

''I guess with some matters all you have to do is listen to your heart and never forget who you truly are. Because that's what makes everyone special, there isn't one type of person in this world, and I wouldn't want you to be any different.''

Shorty smiled. ''Thanks, mom. I wouldn't want you to be any different either.''

She returned the smile. ''Thank you, dear. But you really should be going to sleep right now. You can barely stand straight.''

Shorty became aware of that fact almost instantaneously as his stance started to waver. Taking a heed of his mother's suggestion, he started to walk back to the nest he had just helped clean up a moment ago, but any previous thoughts about how utterly disgusting the whole ordeal had been were long gone from his mind by then. Only one thing remained, the need to rest immediately.

As he laid down, he started to feel his consciousness rapidly dwindle, he felt the blackness start to envelope him in its care. He felt the presence of his mother beside him, giving him the much needed and appreciated warmth he had subconsciously seeked. His eyes grew heavier and heavier with each breath he took. Finally, he closed his eyes, and the last thing he thought about before falling into dreamless sleep was the fun he would get to enjoy tomorrow with his friends once again. However, unknown to them, such an opportunity would never see the light of day ever again.

* * *

Shorty bolt up suddenly, every thought in high definition despite his still present fatigue. He wasn't exactly sure what had awaken him, but whatever it was, he didn't like it one bit. His heart begun to pound in his chest, as if he was running for his life from something terrible that was chasing him. Suddenly, he begun to hear faint voices around him, not a single one of them distinguishable from the other.

A delicate nudge to his side jerked him awake from his deep thoughts, he saw the tired and concerned face of his mother before him. ''Shorty… why are you still awake? Go back to sleep.''

Despite his mother's gentle plea he simply couldn't go back to sleep before he found out the reason for those strange noises a moment ago. It would nag him forever unless he figured it out right now. ''Mom, can you hear that?''

She yawned. ''Hear what, dear? I can't hear-''

''Listen closely! I know I heard something strange just a few moments ago.''

His mother frowned. ''Shorty, I do not appreciate your actions one bit right now. Go back to sleep this instant, there is nothing out there that's making any-''

Her sentence was cut short when the previous sounds intensified. Now she could hear them as well, and right then understood her son's growing concern. ''I can hear it now as well… just what is that?''

''I have no idea. It's something I've never heard before in my life.''

She nodded. ''That makes two of us, but whatever it is, it doesn't sound good and that puts me on edge.''

Shorty nodded. ''Yeah, me too.''

Without warning, the ground began to shake uncontrollably and the air carried a loud noise that left their ears feeling like they just exploded. Without a conscious decision, Shorty dropped to the muddy ground, his paws desperately trying to block that loud sound with any means necessary. His mother was the first to recover, and though he could only see her face, he knew it was bad when he saw the very concerned and scared look flash across her features momentarily. Her eyes were tilted upward and it looked like she attempted to pronounce something, but only managed to let out faint whispers that Shorty couldn't hear.

Suddenly, her face went pale with pure fear, and when he turned his own gaze to where his mother's eyes were concentrated on, he could see the sky turn black and a very strange smell in his nostrils, something he had never smelled in his entire life, but apparently was so utterly terrible that it completely paralyzed his mother.

''We have to go now, Shorty! There's no time to waste!''

''What's going on, mom? Why are you so worried suddenly?''

She begun to push him in the opposite direction where the sounds and smell radiated from, all the while making sure to keep one eye at the offset of this event. Something she once thought to be vacant long before her time had come, something that would cause utter destruction once it became active.

It had laid dormant for a very long time, the elders even insisting that it would never cause suffering to anyone. But they were all lies in the end. Stories have a habit of going bad once enough time has passed and you're no longer looking over your shoulder, and it seemed now they had run out of time. She had never seen an active one before, but could very well remember what numerous farwalkers told their herd about their travels in the Mysterious Beyond. There were countless threats out in these lands, the sharpteeth weren't the only thing out here that could kill you, but it seemed like many had already forgotten that besides her.

They prayed to their ancestors that it would never awaken from its deep slumber, and for a while it seemed to have worked in their favor. Until today. What could they do against such an calamity that burned everything it touched? There was a slim chance of surviving by fleeing from the scene, but what about after that? This was their home and abandoning it meant almost the same as dying. There were only small instances when some individuals had decided to move on from the herd, but that wasn't exactly the choice most had or wanted to make for that matter.

However, all of that didn't matter, right now their only objective should be to get as far away from the smoking mountain before it erupted, because once that happened the once familiar and luscious valley would be nothing more but a pile of black wasteland where living couldn't be possible anymore.

It would've been an understatement to say that Shorty was starting to worry deeply about how his mother had begun to act so suddenly, but before he had a chance to voice those concerns, she spoke to her son in a loud manner. ''Shorty, I want you to run as fast as you can, just like you did earlier today, remember?''

''And what will you do?''

''I'm going to do everything I can to slow the flowing fire's approach so that we can get far away from its path. Whatever you do, don't stop running. Do you understand?''

''Mom… I'm not-''

The female's patience was running thin. ''Will you please just do what I ask you to, Shorty? One thing I'm asking you, _one_ thing!''

Shorty raised his voice. ''I don't want to leave you behind!''

''You're not leaving me behind, dear! I will be right behind you after I've done everything I possibly can to slow it down, even a bit can help us get away in time!''

The green longneck couldn't believe his ears. Did she really want him to abandon him like that, and could he do it? _No… I'm not running away from this. _He mused. ''I am not leaving you behind, mother! Let's just go together!''

She sighed, both tired because of her lack of sleep and arguing with her precious child. Couldn't he see that this was to protect him? She couldn't go on living if she lost the one thing she cared most about in this world, she would rather offer her own life before letting him decide something like that. He was simply too young to leave this world to the Great Beyond, but she wasn't. ''Please, Shorty… I'm begging you to leave right now… we don't have a lot of time until-''

Her words were cut off when the ground beneath their feet begun to shift and cracks started to appear from the ground beneath them. Fear and panic ensued as the ground shook up and down violently, as if the entire place suddenly fell from the sky and struck the earth with a mighty impact. Shorty and his mother scrambled up to their feet, but the latter lost her balance over and over again and was reduced to crawling as they started to flee from the scene, any previous arguments completely cast aside as Shorty's mother screamed as loud as she could to get her son's attention.

''Shorty! Get away from here right now!''

''For the last time, I'm not leaving you here all by yourself!''

Her frustration was filled to capacity. ''I wasn't asking, Shorty! I am your mother and you will listen to what I say! Now for the love of our ancestors… Get away from here right _now!_''

All Shorty wanted to do was continue to assure his mother he wouldn't leave her side for any reason whatsoever, especially now since they were cut off from each other by the most recent earthshake. But something in her tone made him start to think about what he was doing. She desperately wanted him to leave and not look back, but that was something he couldn't do to his own mother. He cast his eyes toward his mother's form, who was still trying to crawl away to safety, but all of that would be pointless in the end.

The ground began to rumble once more, more ferocious than ever before. The earth beneath his mother begun to crack all around her. At first Shorty could hardly breathe, his brain unable to make sense of what he was seeing, desperately hoping for a way out of this mess, but there simply wasn't one. ''Mom…''

The ground beneath her finally gave in and she tumbled downwards at a fast pace, all the while trying to grasp something to halt her fall but to no avail. She turned her gaze up until she spotted her son looking down at her with a sorrowful expression. There would be no time for any final goodbyes for either of them. She summoned all her remaining willpower and smiled at her son for the last time, while her tears dripped down her face. _Goodbye, my son. Stay alive. _She thought.

She felt herself starting to fall while hearing Shorty scream in unison. Shortly, she hit the hard ground with a mighty force, enough to break her entire body to pieces. Closing her eyes for the last time, she began to reminisce her entire life thus far, even as her consciousness was slipping away. From her birth to playing with other children her age, arguing with her parents like Shorty and she had done once in a while, the birth of her first and only child to this very moment. So many good memories to cherish. Her only regret was that she would not see her son grow up to become an adult, to explore the world and perhaps one day start his own family to love and cherish. All of the pain suddenly vanished and at that moment, she felt tranquil.

Shorty couldn't fathom what had just occurred right in front of him. His eyes were frozen on the spot where his mother had been a moment ago. It felt like hours had passed since then, but in reality only mere minutes had passed. Slowly, he attempted to move but quickly realized how futile even such a simple deed really was when he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. It felt like someone had pierced his heart and shattered it into millions of pieces. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't move his gaze away from the that sight.

Shorty had received his fair share of wounds in his life, but none of them would come even close to the pain he felt inside of him at the present moment. Wounds and cuts healed in time, but what about emotional scars? They would stay with you forever until you either learned to dismiss them completely from your mind, or when you learned to live with them to the best of your ability. Either way was enough to cause one massive amounts of pain, and now Shorty understood that better than ever before.

Shorty became aware of his surroundings once more when another earthshake suddenly unfolded right before his eyes. In that moment of pondering, he found himself with two choices. He could either stand still and let the earthshake deal with him like it had with his mother, or he could flee from the scene and never look back, just like his mother had wanted him to.

However, his mother's words rang inside his head. _Whatever you do, don't stop running. _A part of him wished to join her in the Great Beyond so that he wouldn't have to face the cruel world all by himself. But what would his mother say to that, if he would just willingly offer himself up to meet death? She would be disappointed for sure, if he did that, he would've failed in fulfilling her last wish. No… he couldn't hurt his deceased mother in such manner… doing something like that was unthinkable to the young longneck, even if his mother was no longer physically with him.

His decision made, Shorty started to depart from the scene with a heavy heart. He ran past the once familiar sights which didn't offer any sort of familiarity now. Everything was completely upside down due to the violent earthshakes and the newly erupted smoking mountain. His skin shuddered and he could feel his brain starting to defocus, searching for a way out… and up there, to the forest where paths diverged into many directions, was a way out of this hell.

Now that his mind had somewhat cleared, he could focus much better on his current situation and surroundings. He didn't loosen for even a brief second in his task of escaping, he ran like he had earlier today trying to catch up to his mother. That brief thought of her nearly made him freeze, until he concentrated all his efforts to the current task at hand once more. He could grief as much as he liked after he had put as much distance between this place and him as he possibly could have.

The ground in front of him separated with a mighty roar and the following impact nearly sent him flying on his rear end. All the forces of the world wouldn't ease up in their attempt to cut him loose, the thought of that being a possibility made him very anxious. _No… I won't give up… I will survive this! For her. _

With one mighty leap, Shorty landed in knee-deep water that he had somehow missed, but dropping into a smaller version of a pool was definitely more welcoming than falling to his death. Even if he had made it across the gap, he wasn't in the clear quite yet. He had to put some distance between him and this place as soon as possible, or all his deeds to survive would've been for nothing if he died while celebrating too early. Not that he was really in the mood.

He took one last look at his former home which was completely unrecognizable by now. He made sure to safeguard all of his precious memories about this place before this fateful night, as it was time for him to leave for good. He was sure that departing with this place wouldn't be as easy as one could expect from a child, yet he made effort to commemorate the more serene thoughts and emotions and take them with him on his travels. Still, a child alone in the Mysterious Beyond was as good as dead, but Shorty promised he would do his very best to stay alive, not for his sake, but for the sake of the one who gave him love and care when he needed it the most.

Elders said that children shouldn't worry about grownups concerns, but in reality that was just another lie made up to fool the feeble. It was time to grow up, and with that, Shorty said goodbye to the place he had always believed to be his one true home. Stars shone as bright as ever, glistening in the dark sky. It would've been a welcome sight if today had gone a lot differently. There were times, under the skies of blue, when Shorty would think of those faraway stars and how they'd return each time after the shadows blended into the dark. With a heavy burden on his shoulders and the future unknown for him, Shorty se out into the dark and cold night, desperately hoping for a salvation to emerge.

* * *

He was walking unusually slowly, almost as if his mind was struggling to tell all of his feet to take the next step. It was if he was in a stupor, under a spell of some ulterior force that was forcing his own body to fight against his will. Of course, considering the circumstances that the young longneck found himself in it wasn't a big surprise.

Not only that, but he was also very tired, such were the effects of not getting enough or rather no sleep at all for the past two days. It was indeed very astonishing that he was still standing despite his obvious lack of tending his own body. Shorty paused and scowled, too exhausted to really start complaining, so he opted to rest for a while probably for the umpteenth time today.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, only able to fall asleep for a few minutes until he woke up screaming after seeing the horrifying sight repeat over and over again. The world was a blur and random images seemed to float aimlessly around in the pool of his own thoughts, as if they were being blown about viciously by a whirling wind. He tried to focus on virtually anything to keep his mind occupied, but after a second he was once again lost in his raging thoughts.

His friends' fates were still very much unknown to him and it had been nagging him ever since his departure from the place he once called home. Everyone he ever knew was potentially already dead, and the worst of it was that there was a big chance he never would know what truly happened to all of them.

The whole world simply felt like a nightmare from which you couldn't wake up no matter what you did to stop the images from appearing. Confusion blossomed in his heart and deep down he knew that sooner or later he had to get some rest to satisfy his frantic mind or he feared that he wouldn't last much longer out here. But for now he made an attempt to lay down his heavy head and to retreat into the ambiguous blackness that seemed far too eager to welcome him into its embrace.

_The world before him was quivering tremendously, shaking and blurring at the edges. He couldn't tell up from down in spite of his persistent volition. He wasn't quite sure he was even breathing or aware of what was happening around him, and that made him timid. A blinding light ensnared him, he felt like he was being pulled apart one limb at a time, exploding from the inside out. _

_He tried to scream for help, but no matter how hard he tried to cry out it was torn from him. A shadow fell upon him, washing away the blinding sharpness of the light. A moment of silence followed, then nothing. A sweet, smooth, mellifluous humming reached him, it made him smile softly. The edge of the world broke into a million pieces, too thick to ever see through, but the humming still continued. Relief flooded into his system._

_Slowly, he started to emerge from the enveloping darkness up to the sky, he couldn't describe the feeling he felt, but it felt right. Standing alone amidst a column of lofty trees, their tops unable to be seen from the ground, he remembered. A feeling of dread overlapped every other emotion, drowning him in their cruelty from which there was no way out._

_He was longing for a place that was no more, longing for a person that didn't exist anymore. What once was is no more. Alone in the vanishing mist, he begun to cry. The powerful longing strengthened, trapping him further in its presence. Always would he witness the same thing over and over again. To feel that sense of belonging and safety, only to be fooled by the more sinister powers lurking behind them. No way out of this hell. No way to ease it._

_It was only when he finally woke up did he manage to escape from this dark place. But what was the point of that if he just ended up in the same place later? He couldn't force himself to wake up from this nightmare, the only road there was the one that lead to the end, and to get there you first had to walk all of the steps prior to that. A hell indeed._

_A loud, echoing scream cut through the thick air, one that did not belong to the individual stuck in an endless limbo. He felt his eyes widen and pulse quicken, heart thudding like no tomorrow. The scream echoed once more, then another… and another, louder each time. It sounded very desperate, terrified… childlike. The blood drained from his face, before he was even aware of making a conscious decision his legs were pounding furiously on the bizarre ground, ears straining for more sounds to come._

_It sounded once more, he didn't know how many times he had already heard it, and frankly he didn't care. He had no clue as to what he'd do once he got to his newfound destination, only that he absolutely had to get there before it was too late to help those poor souls. A bright light blinded him, but he gave it no heed, he was running out of time. The light only grew stronger, but so did his determination._

_There was something strange and different about this light, however. Unlike the previous ones, it gave a weird sensation, kind of like it was beckoning him to join it in whatever task it currently had to accomplish. Could it be that… their goal was the same? To reach that terrified sound and help it? He had no way of knowing it for sure, but something inside him made him believe that was so._

_On a whim, he dashed into the blinding white light and hoped for the best. When he didn't feel any kind of pain or the like, he opened his eyes and the scene in front of him began to clear more by the second. Apparently his wager proved to be reliable in the end and he was most glad about it. Now he could finally go help that unfortunate soul that was in deep trouble from the sound of it. The vision began to resemble something he vaguely recalled to have seen not too long ago, the previous habitat and its terrors completely erased from his mind by then._

Shorty woke up suddenly with a loud gasp leaving his dry mouth, every thought in high definition. His eyes took a while to adjust to the sharp ray of light of the Bright Circle. He took notice of the fact that without a doubt he had slept too long in a place like this that was too unprotected to offer any real protection from potential predators lurking about. His heart was pounding rapidly and vigorously in his chest. His thoughts then returned to whatever he had seen in his sleep story, trying acutely to figure out what exactly he saw and heard in it.

_Just… what was that just now? I've never had a sleep story like that… It honestly freaks me out just trying to remember it. _However weird his vision had been, he concluded that in the long run it didn't matter right now, and stored that little memory for later speculation after he had found some sense of heading to carry on with his journey. It would take a moment for his mind to shed all of the visions of the bizarre dream before he could even fathom of moving on.

Upon having rubbed the remainders of sleep from his eyes, he turned his gaze to the horizon. The vivid light it generated extended across a rosy sky. He supposed this was something the majority of people would consider beautiful, but he found it strange, hard even, to find something so meaningful in something so common occurrence. It's not like the Bright Circle would decide to not rise one day, that simply didn't happen. Except probably in some very peculiar sleep story. So what was so special about it that certain individuals took the time to actually even worship it like it was a supernatural thing out of this world?

Waking up was no longer a pleasure like it was to Shorty once in his life, memories of his loved ones rushing to his mind at the mere thought. For a brief moment before he recalled all of the recent events in his life, it felt like a fleeting moment when he was a whole again, but it quickly faded away faster than the sky water hit the ground. All these dark thoughts made him remember what it was like to be the complete opposite, but there was no way it could have lasted forever. Sooner or later things were going to get out of hand real fast, and now they had. Shorty wished he could linger in that blissful ignorance for even one more second, but it couldn't be helped anymore. This was his life now, so it was better to adapt or die.

As easy as it would have been to simply sit here and wait for his turn to come in due course, he had no real reason to. If he were to give up now, then what would've been the point of escaping from the fiery hell previously? There were many ways to achieve death, but sitting on the ground and waiting for death to come definitely wasn't one of them. Swallowing hard, Shorty forced his body to obey his command and get moving, hoping that by some stroke of luck, his heart would stop racing and his body to start working like it should. He let out a clamorous yawn escape, only a further evidence of his lack of sleep.

The lazy wind pushed against the grass like a child rolling heartily in it like it was the best fun they had ever had. The late sun brought a welcoming warmth that coated you in its embrace. Shorty wasn't exactly sure how long he had been asleep, but it had hardly been any more than couple of hours at the most. His muscles felt weak, like his energy. He let out an exasperated sigh, groaning as he rolled off of the makeshift nest he had been occupying to his feet. With a long exhale he could detect signs of his brain still waking up from the slumber, but spending anymore time here would've been a massive waste of his time, so he simply moved on from the woodland, his current path taking him further into the lands unknown.

In the forest the sky vanished almost completely from sight, only a few mere fragments of the bluish sky remained visible. The trees grew more thick the further Shorty went along the path. Around him were the browned remnants of branches that had fallen in the recent high winds, chaotically spread out all over the place. Soon the path he had been following mysteriously ended, or if there was a path he couldn't see it due to the sombre ambience surrounding him. Nevertheless, if he were to return to his starting point now, he would have lost all of that precious time for nothing, so he simply sauntered onward, despite the fact that he hardly saw anything anymore. His current condition made the longeck extremely enraged, but before he could let out his emotions, a loud scream made him freeze.

It was the kind of a scream that made your blood run cold, so full of desperation and trepidation evident. It was probably the loudest scream Shorty had ever heard in his life, it sounded like a scream of wild panic, hysteria and disbelief, bordering on terror. And it only made it worse that it wasn't the only voice he heard, other voices could be picked up clear as day. The only difference between them was that the first one was more frightened than the other ones, but it barely raised Shorty's mood.

A chill ran through the longneck's spine as he heard the cries intensifying by the second. It made him shudder mulling over the possibilities of that particular cry for help. A bead of sweat dripped down his face as he stood there helpless, not knowing what to do and simply too frightened to make a move. Because of how loud the voices were, it would've been no problem at all to navigate his way to the spot where the commotion was occurring, but no matter how much he wanted to sedate his mind by investigating the matter for himself, he couldn't force his feet to move at all. It was like they were rooted to the ground, like they were part of the actual ground and no matter how much willpower he put together to move he simply couldn't accomplish such a basic task. Then a voice cut through the air.

''Just keep holding on! We'll find some way to save you!''

The voice undoubtedly belonged to a child far younger than him, the tone of the speaker was a very frantic one, deepening more and more as time went by. Shorty could only ponder what could possibly cause the child to act so terrified, on the other hand he wasn't very keen to find out and simply considered to vacate the area as soon as possible so he wouldn't have to face a possible danger to his live. Then again, the child clearly wasn't alone as he heard more than one shout reach his ears, and there was no way a pack of sharpteeth were harassing the younglings, as he would've heard growls, roars and screeches if that were the case. So it meant that something else was going on, something very alarming indeed.

Different thoughts ran through his head energetically, with no intentions of stopping anytime soon. Could he leave those children to cope with their problems and not feel bad about it later, or should he take the gamble and figure out what exactly was happening around here and if he could possibly be of some assistance? The decision was particularly hard for him to make with such a small time frame he had, every second he wasted here meant less of a chance for those in danger to make it out alive.

Even if he didn't know these children, it would be utterly cruel to leave them cope with their current struggles while he departed from the region without a care in the world, he would hate himself forever if he chose a path like that. His decision made, he charged further into the dark forest, listening carefully to the desperate cries to avoid any missteps on his part that could have ruined any chance he had to help.

After some period of time had passed, saw the light of the Bright Circle shine through the thick vegetation. It seemed like he had passed the point of where the woodland was the most dense a while ago, thought about fleeing from this gloomy and discouraging environment made him smile in triumph. It would only take a few more steps for him to burst out of the vegetation, all the while the sounds of distress became louder and louder as he approached the scene. It made him pick up speed, like he was running away from the approaching flowing fire all over again. He reminded himself never to think about that disaster ever again, as it only brought painful memories that he didn't need nor want.

At last, he saw the light of the day become more clear as he was nearly at the edge of the tree line now. He burst out of the woodland with a mighty speed that still managed to impress even Shorty himself despite the current situation at hand. A deep gorge yawned wide before the longneck, in reality it was scarcely no further across than the gap he had jumped across back in his former home, but if he made even one miscalculation and the consequences weren't only going to be him completely soaked and receiving a deep blow to his ego, as the rapid current of the river would transfer him to some yet another unknown place or even worse, cause his death in some manner. And if he was lucky enough to survive it and not break all of his bones while at it, he would most certainly be back to square one again.

He looked towards the other side and saw the younglings he had heard before. To his shock and confusion, they were all longnecks, and as he had previously determined that all of them were considerably younger than he was. He saw the problem they had almost immediately. One of the younglings was trying hard to keep his grip on a piece of log just barely sticking out of the water. What made the matter worse was that his grip was slipping by the second and it wouldn't be long until he would fall into the raging river that would claim the life of the young longneck before he would even have a chance to live up to adulthood. Shorty desperately looked for a possible way out that the youngling could've use to escape from the urgent situation, but ultimately found none. It perplexed him quite dearly by how the longneck had even gotten into that situation in the first place and he resolved to find out the reason for that if they managed to survived this mess.

Somehow, the small longnecks hadn't noticed his arrival, focusing all of their attention to their distressed friend. But once Shorty took a few cautious steps further they seemed to snap out of their trance and finally noticed the green longneck on the other side. Judging by their expressions they were very much surprised and even glad that someone else had come to help their companion. One of the younglings finally found enough courage to open her mouth and yell directly to Shorty in a clear panic. ''Hey! Please, can you help our friend? We would, but we can't reach him from here!''

Shorty contemplated the best possible solution to reach the frantic child and get him out of danger before his grip finally relented. There were some small pebbles all around the river he could use to carefully jump across until he reached the small longneck. The only problems were that he would have to jump in between each of them in order to advance further, and some of them looked to be quite far away from the last, so Shorty wasn't exactly certain he would make it without falling into the river himself and leaving the younglings all by themselves to face the foreseeable grim future.

The pebbles themselves didn't also look very sturdy and when he squinted his eyes he could even see small fractures on them, suggesting that they wouldn't perchance be able to handle his weight, and therefore would quickly crumble to pieces before he could attempt to maneuver back to safety. That said there really wasn't any other way to save the child before the unthinkable happened. He could attempt to circle around the entire river and approach the longneck some other way, but that idea was quickly disregarded as it would take him far too long to make the journey and it would hardly put him in a better situation on the other side as there were far less pebbles for him to use.

The longneck almost once more lost his grip on the log, causing the others to cry out. Fortunately, he managed to right himself again for the time being, but it was only a matter of time until he couldn't keep his hold on the log anymore and that would've been the end of him. Becoming aware of the fact that he was wasting valuable time more and more by the second he hesitated to make action, Shorty took a deep breath and approached the river to estimate how much power he would have to put into his legs in order to make that jump and then some after that. The first pebble on sight was about the size of a longneck little bigger than him, so he could definitely make the first jump if he had enough speed. Then again, having too much speed could cause him to bypass his desired goal and cause him to fall into the river on his own volition, whether if that would be accidental or not. The same longneck that had called out to him earlier once again cried out urgently. ''He can't hold on much longer! Please, whatever you have to do do it now!''

He really didn't need an reminder of that, but he wasn't about to make matters worse and start yelling to the other kids, possibly causing the one in danger to panic even more. Shorty turned his attention to the small longneck in hopes of getting his undivided attention, although that would've been so very hard for a child his age to focus on anything else but the raging river trying to swallow him. He gathered as much of his force to yell instructions to him, being careful not to yell out very loudly to not startle the youngling. ''Hey! If you can hear me, don't worry! I'm coming for you. Just hold on tight and no matter what you do, do not let your grip go until I say so!''

Seemingly he had heard Shorty loud and clear, as he nodded his head feverishly and that was more than enough of a message to the green longneck that his message had been received loud and clear. He backed up so that he could gather the much needed speed before the leap, and once his back hit the rocky wall and not being able to move more aback, closed his eyes and thought of his friends whom the group of small longnecks reminded him the most. If he made it in time, he would at least make sure that another innocent soul wasn't so wrongly ripped away from life far too soon. without further ado, he launched himself into a sprint.

When Shorty felt the ground disappear beneath him, he almost panicked enough so to halt his sprint, but even if he had wished for such action it was too late now as he was already flying through the air, watching the rapid river flowing swiftly and strongly below him. Now that he was closer to the river, he could see some distinct features about it. The water was turbid brown from eroding the banks it usually passed by softly, branches floating on the water blown in by the latest storm.

The water eddied around him, but not in the relaxed way water usually did, but harshly, like it had a mind of its own and was busy conveying to the world that it did not like the current circumstances anymore than Shorty did. Every fibre in his body was screaming at him to abandon his task and return to the riverbank where it was safe. He silenced those annoying little voices in his head and focused on the present. Albeit he wanted nothing more than to obey his mind's command he knew that was no longer an option. He was too far gone to go back now.

He could feel it clear as day, building like an unstoppable force heading towards you in the pit of your stomach. He couldn't concentrate on anything else besides panic. Seconds ticked by and his breathing was growing faster and faster, although it almost seemed like the world around him ceased to exist for a short period of time. It felt like time itself was slowed down, and he was falling even slower onto the river, negative thoughts came out of nowhere.

As sweat begun to drop from his brow, and he was approaching the river with a speed that terrified him. It was like something unnatural wanted to see him suffer before his imminent end, the negative emotions in his head only kept coming like waves on rocks. Shorty could hear different arguments inside his head, ranging from optimistic to pessimistic, eventually they got so disturbing that he would've liked to shut down his entire body, but for obvious reasons such a thing couldn't be done by him or anyone else. His limbs grew heavy and visions of the past kept playing all over again and again before him. It was like he was seeing his entire life flash before his very eyes. What a peculiar sight indeed it was.

Suddenly, he broke out of the trance in a blink of an eye, and quickly became aware of the fact that half of his body was somehow beneath the water lever while the other part and his paws tried to desperately hold on to the rock for safety. The longneck couldn't remember how exactly he got into that position, but thinking about it for too long would hardly improve his chances of surviving and helping that small and helpless child.

It was indeed very fortunate that he hadn't fallen into the river completely, otherwise he would be in a extremely precarious position. He uttered a few grateful words to the ancestors who must've been looking out for him. Of course, there always was the chance that he had simply gotten lucky with his leap in the first place, but nevertheless of the real reason behind his survival thus far, he was alive and damn glad about it. He didn't like wasting time pondering pointless things when there were more pressing concerns to be handled.

But it was hardly time to celebrate just yet, as he still wasn't away from the imminent danger he would surely face if he didn't move now. He spared a brief glance over his shoulder, watching the rapid river with unrelenting expression. He wouldn't let it take him down now after coming through so much in a such short amount of time. Sure, everything felt like it had happened a long time ago, but the truth was anything but that. Despite all of his recent issues he was still very much alive and most definitely not ready to withdraw his life away so easily. He would fight to the bitter end until he finally allowed that to happen. Besides, there was still a lot in him that he wished to let out and show to the world he wasn't a weakling he once was.

Shorty kicked his legs as fast as he possibly could, all the while being aware to keep his paws steady and attached to the rock. If he failed in that simple objective he could kiss his life goodbye immediately, but the river seemed adamant about not wanting him to reach the child in time, because no matter how hard he kicked his legs he couldn't lift himself off from beneath the water. He looked desperately around for something he could use as a leverage to assist him escape from its grasp, but like all of his attempts so far he couldn't find one.

No matter, there was still that slim chance he could muster enough strength and free himself before his remaining strength would fail him and the rest of him would fall to the raging river that appeared to be very eager to welcome him in its embrace for eternity. Summoning all of his remaining power he could find, Shorty then placed all of that on his hind legs, desperately hoping for being able to achieve his goal in time. The success of this task required him to muster all he had left inside him and make sure he didn't suffer a similar fate like his late mother.

Out of the blue, his back legs connected with something beneath the water. Shorty's first impression was that a hungry bellydragger was about to start munching on his feet, but then he frowned and thought about it for a while and at the same time tried to probe to figure out what exactly it was. After a while he deduced it most definitely wasn't a bellydragger trying to eat him, but something hard and cold, then an idea struck his mind. He could attempt to gather enough boost from that thing beneath the river to launch him away from the river's danger much better than he could with his own strength, which was dwindling down by the minute and he knew he wouldn't last long when that happened.

He put his hind legs on the surface of that strange thing, gathered all of his remaining strength from who knew where, and at the same time tried to pull himself upwards with his paws, which was easier said than done in the end, but he managed just fine on his own as in no time he was glad to notice he was slowly but surely starting to rise from the river up to the pebble which had been his intended spot all along. It would only take a few more meters until he would be free from the river's grasp.

With a renewed vigor, he pushed his hind legs further into the hard and cold surface of the thing that could very well save his life from almost certain death, he pushed so hard that his legs started to hurt and while Shorty was deeply worried that his disinterest at the moment would no doubt bite him in the rear later he couldn't find it in himself to care right now even if he'd wanted to from the bottom of his heart. There was always time to clean any wounds later, that is if he managed to survive to the end.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he managed to lift his body off from the water, but almost stumbled accidentally back when he didn't take notice of the fact that the pebble he was now at wasn't exactly very wide in terms of room to maneuver properly, so in the future he would definitely have to keep that small detail in mind to avoid such issues in the long run as he outright refused to step a food in the river ever again in his life.

Shorty heard the small longnecks scream again, no doubt both happy about him surviving that small obstacle, but also to remind him he still had a job to do. ''Please, hurry! He's out of time soon!''

And that indeed was true, as when Shorty turned his gaze to the small longneck in distress again he saw him struggling to hold on more than ever before. If he had to make a estimate about how long he would be able to hold on before losing all of his remaining strength and falling to his apparent death, Shorty surmised he had approximately 5 minutes or so to complete his objective, save that child before it was too late.

Not a lot of time on his paws, but he had to make do with what he had right now. His remaining obstacles laid before him like a predator waiting for its prey to strike. The wind whipped in his face as he sucked in a deep breath to prepare for what was to come. His muscles were strained and sluggish after putting most of his strength to free himself from the river's grasp, but he was certain that with a little luck he would manage to jump from pebble to pebble until he reached the child in time. Granted, he would have to move quickly, every minute was more important than ever. ''Okay, kid, I'm coming now! Just keep holding on for a little bit longer!''

The small child whined in reply, seemingly spent trying to desperately hold on to the log and not fall down to the river that was becoming even more ferocious as time went by. He managed to shout out a reply to Shorty's comment before falling silent once again and focusing on keeping his grip steady. ''I… can't hold on for much longer… Please, hurry!''

However, the green longneck didn't register the distressed sounds the youngling made, as with a single movement, he was once again flying through the air landing on the next pebble in line.

All of it was unlike anything Shorty had ever experienced. For some reason he didn't feel pure fear anymore about the possible imminent death he could face at any given moment. Of course, he wasn't exactly calm either, as this kind of a situation was still way out of his comfort zone, but he made it work relatively fine considering the circumstances.

Everything was a blur, often Shorty would find himself on the next pebble after wondering if he could make it to the next one at all, it was like his mind operated on a whim or an instinct he wasn't even certain he had. If he went on like this he was certain he would reach the small longneck in time, but his fears would soon be rekindled after he saw the sight that awaited in front of him after he had made into the next pebble that was extremely close to the child.

The truth was, Shorty had not been keeping much attention on the child for the past minutes, so focused he was on the current task at hand that he didn't see the child's grip falter for a brief moment when he took one of his paws off from the log to perchance rest it for a while before putting it back where it belonged to. The child himself only became aware of the fact when he started to slip and desperately tried to reattach his paw back into its former place, but it was all for nothing as when he was just about to reach the log, his grip on the log he was holding on with his other paw finally relented enough to send him falling down to the waiting embrace of the raging river.

Shorty finally noticed what was happening when he saw the child starting to fall down. Without even thinking, Shorty leaped across the final pebble to the log that he prayed was stable enough to withstand his weight. At the same time he reached out with his long neck to the youngling whom laid directly beneath him. Shorty didn't know if it was his luck again or something else, but just about when the child was about to pummel into the river and never to be seen again, Shorty caught his tail in his jaws, the child hanging upside down with fear evidently clear from his features, but otherwise relatively fine.

Nevertheless, they weren't out of danger quite yet, as Shorty still had to carry the child to safety before the log beneath his feet would break from his weight, as he heard it crack from time to time. The older longneck didn't wish to see what would happen if they stayed for even a minute longer than they needed on the log, and carefully maneuvered himself firmly back on the log again instead of hanging from it as if Shorty was a spitting image of the small longneck moments before. He mumbled to the small child in hopes of calming him down, but wasn't sure how well his message would be received as the child was clearly still in panic and it didn't help that he had a tail in his mouth to prevent him from speaking coherently. ''Okay, kid… We'll be out of this soon enough, just close your eyes and don't open them until I say you can.''

The log hunkered low to the swift current, as if its intention was to move itself lower and lower until it finally reached the target of purpose. It groaned under the added weight of two longnecks, making Shorty freeze briefly in trepidation, anticipating the moment when and if the log would finally snap under the heavy weight and pummel to the fast-flowing river beneath them. That moment never came, as the groaning ceased after a while and Shorty let out a tired sigh while moving onwards, not willing to risk everything he had accomplished during the short-term whilst fighting to save an despondent longneck.

Their makeshift bridge kept groaning every few steps or so, seemingly growing weaker with every step they took forward towards their sanctuary, all the while the longneck being carried weeped softly when he watched the rapid current swirl beneath him threateningly so. Shorty hummed any comfort he could to the child, but due to his current situation of making sure to not open his mouth and accidentally release the longneck out of his grasp and his own growing fears prevented him from accomplishing much.

Fortunately, their destination was closing in by now, only a few more steps would bring them to the safety of the shore and in time as well. It seemed like all the dangers they could've faced passed by long ago, as Shorty and the child made it to the shore just in a nick of time until the log finally collapsed and fell to the river. Fragments bounced almost everywhere, but all of them would eventually end up in the same place, as the river carried them to the unknown Shorty was more than glad to have avoided.

He set the child down, careful to not drop him too hard or suddenly and let the youngling figure out by himself that he was fine as he could be. He would no doubt suffer some sort of trauma from that fiasco later on, but the important thing was that he would live to see another day, and no matter how difficult life might be, there always was a way out of a bad situation, Shorty knew that better than anyone right now. He nudged the small child who quivered in response. ''Okay, you can open your eyes now. We're safe now.''

He slowly opened his eyes and once his gaze landed on his friends whom were quick to surround him to ask if he was alright. After he had shed any trace of fear he felt before, he was quick to reassure his friends that he was alright. ''Really, I'm fine… just… I never want to do that again...''

Shorty took that as his cue to enter the conversation as he laid on his haunches to rest his strained limbs. ''Which reminds me, how exactly did you get into that situation in the first place? I'm very eager to find out.''

The youngling seemed hesitant to answer his question and only lowered his gaze to the ground in evident shame. Figuring that Shorty would not get a clear answer from him personally, he directed his gaze to one of the other longnecks whom he had heard speak before. As if sensing the unasked question, the female was hasty with explaining what had occurred before Shorty showed up. ''Browntail suggested we use the log to pass the fast water after we got separated from our parents by that earthshake. We didn't think it was a good idea, but he wouldn't listen to reason! We tried to tell him trying to walk over the log was a bad idea, but he said he knew better than us because his parents were the leaders of our herd.''

Browntail's eyes snapped up and he glared directly at the female longneck. ''No I didn't! I said it would be a good idea to test that log first before we all crossed, and because no one else was willing to take the risk, I did what every real longneck should've done and volunteered!''

However, Shorty doubted just how much of Browntail's story was true and what was false. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out he was lying through his teeth for some reason. Shorty remembered all the times he used to lie about something to either his friends or mother, and it never ended well for him at all. Still, like a foolish child he kept telling lies about whatever he could think of, not minding the consequences his actions had until it was far too late to say you were sorry. Shorty surmised something similar was going on with Browntail, he was simply too ashamed of himself to admit the truth to anyone or even himself.

Shorty rolled his eyes. ''Yeah… I'm not too sure about that, Browntail. Your story doesn't quite check out, and believe me, I know a liar when I see one.''

''You dare-''

''Browntail,'' Shorty put much emphasis on his name to try and make him understand he'd been caught on the lie already. ''I've lied many times in my life about many things, but even I wouldn't think of lying about something this serious after surviving from a tragedy that was sure to happen unless I showed up. Which brings me to my next point, what do you think would've happened if I didn't hear your cries for help?''

Browntail lowered his gaze once more, even more shameful than before. When he replied, it was so quiet that Shorty almost missed in completely. ''I would be dead.''

Shorty nodded. ''Exactly, and do you think that would have been for the best? I actually contemplated for a while whether to risk my live for something that could've possibly even caused my death in the end, but even when my fears were present and nagging at me every step on the way, I still kept going forward because I knew I couldn't leave after hearing someone cry for help that desperately. I'm not that heartless.''

The female continued with her explanation when she sensed that Browntail wouldn't interrupt her again. ''After that he just leaped on the log while proclaiming that he would get to the other side in a blink of an eye before any of us could. But when he was about halfway through, the log snapped in half and he just managed to grab onto the log before he fell. And… I guess you know the rest, we tried to help him without risking ourselves, but it would've taken all of us to get him out of there and we weren't sure the log would hold all of us together at once, like you saw a moment ago.''

Shorty sighed while he gave a small nod to the female in appreciation. ''And here we are… on the other side of the fast water. Tell me, did you have a plan afterwards if you indeed would've made it across someway?''

''Well, we really didn't think that far ahead quite yet.'' One of the other longnecks said, a male one.

''Figures,'' Shorty snorted. ''So you would have just went with your gut, as they say. Do you happen to have any clue where you are right now and if your folks are nearby?''

''No clue. We haven't seen them since we got separated,'' the female replied.

Shorty stood up after he felt like he had allowed himself enough respite already. He gestured to the river. ''Well, you obviously won't get across the river now, as you can clearly see from here, So I'd suggest you to find some other way.'' He began to walk away from the scene, leaving the small longnecks alone after making sure they were alright. _I mean… what else can I really do? I wouldn't be able to take care of them and I'm most certainly not going with them if it means getting into situations like this. _He heard one of the longnecks shout in anxiety at seeing him depart. ''Wait! You're not going to leave us here by ourselves, right?''

The green longneck stopped, but didn't turn around to face them. ''Yeah… that was actually my plan. You don't need me anymore,'' He paused and turned to Browntail. ''Oh, which reminds me, you're welcome by the way for saving your hide just now!''

He heard someone sprinting after him and to his amazement it was none other than Browntail himself. It was quite a surprise indeed, as he appeared to be completely another longneck compared to the stubborn façade he had put on before, the child looked close to tears when he looked at the older longneck in the eyes and when he spoke, his tone was hoarse. ''You can't leave us here, no way!''

''Then what do you want me to do, huh? Try to somehow make it to the other side without dying in the process? Are you completely mental or just stupid, kid? Can't you see that there's no way to the other side now that-''

''Then take us with you! Just please, don't leave us alone here! It's scary!''

Shorty's eyes widened in surprise. _They want me to take them with me on my travels? But why would they ask such a thing? _He decided not to dawdle even one more second of his time and concluded that the best way to get an honest answer was to ask them directly. ''Why do you want to come with me? I can't protect you from sharpteeth if they ever were to cross paths with us!''

He saw the other children approach him, the female one once again speaking for all of them. ''Maybe not, but there's strength in numbers, after all. And wouldn't it be better to spend time with others instead of yourself all the time?''

Even Shorty couldn't argue with that logic, but all of it made no sense to him. They would probably last better alone than with him. Shorty feared that they would both only slow each other down and that would ultimately cause all of their demises in the end by some threat they couldn't predict would encounter them. Despite his feeling of trepidation that was starting to only worsen by the minute, something inside him was very adamant against leaving them alone after making sure that one of them wouldn't die.

All of these strange feelings he had never felt before frightened the young longneck enormously. It felt like he was forced to carry a weight of tenfold all by himself for who knew how long, and that made him even more anxious than ever. Still, that weird feeling again resurfaced once more, and this time it was stronger than ever. Realising that he couldn't prolong the inevitable for long anymore, he opted to just be honest with himself. Yes, it wouldn't hurt to have at least some company to make the loneliness disappear even for a brief moment or as long as it took to find their folks. Either way was good for him in the end.

With his decision made, Shorty groaned loudly, startling some of the children by accident. His next reaction would be better received when he forced a smile to form on his lips, despite how much he wished it wouldn't have happened, it seemed like an impossible feat to accomplish right now, so best get it over with and forget all about it.

''Fine… you can come with me, but I better not hear one ounce of grumbling from any of you, otherwise our journey together ends pretty fast and I will leave you by yourselves. Are we clear about that?''

It didn't even take five seconds until all of the children's expressions switched to cheerful ones and all at once let out a loud voice of agreement unanimously. He would hold on to that with an inch of his life, he meant every word he had said. One wrong move from any of them and any hope of mutual travel was over. He gestured for them to follow him, and they followed after they were done letting out their last exultations into the air.

Shorty saw the female longneck sprint up to his side, with a big grin on her face. ''So, what's your name then, huh? We have to know that if we are to travel together after all!''

This time Shorty truly meant the smile he allowed to form on his lips and he chuckled softly. ''It's Shorty, nice to meet all of you. For however long that may last.''

* * *

Shorty started to seriously regret his earlier decision to take the small longnecks with him when they wouldn't stop pestering him with all kinds of weird questions about everything they saw or heard unfold before them. Not only that, but they wouldn't cease their childish but annoying behavior that was soon starting to make him consider abandoning them right then and there, but something stopped him from making such a rash decision on a whim.

Therefore, he tried to do the one thing he had seen countless adults do while he was with his now probably deceased herd, the one thing most likely all parents had to resort to when an unruly child simply wouldn't listen to their parents orders anymore and all other available options had been already used to try and control them.

To ignore it all like it wasn't even happening around him. Despite thinking in his mind that would make the children lose interest in him and to shift it to something else entirely and stop them from bothering him while making his day even more miserable than it already was, it was not exactly working as he had planned.

Perhaps the worst of it all was that they could barely control their volume at all, which would only attract unwanted attention from undesirable people, like sharpteeth, for example. Even if it seemed like there were none in sight, Shorty knew better than to succumb to such foolish actions of letting your guard down while in an unknown land you had no knowledge about whatsoever. Such action would make him more of a target to any potential predators, should they choose to track him and his companions.

But the younglings certainly wouldn't know it, that much was certain by their current activity that drove him so absolutely mad he was certain that if a sharptooth didn't soon show up from out of nowhere, then he would be the one to play the role of a predator and he wouldn't be a kind one to his targets, unlike some might have been.

Shorty had to once again sidestep quickly to the side to avoid collision when one of the younglings decided to run straight at him while keeping his gaze locked onto the one behind him who had been chosen to be a chaser in their silly little game. He made his displeasure loud and clear when he growled loudly to the two children. However, they were too caught up in their game to take even a notice of him and his furious face. It was no use trying to get their attention like this, so Shorty only moved on after making sure that all of them were still with him.

Even if a part of him was starting to become extremely steadfast about leaving them alone in the Mysterious Beyond just like he had warned them he would if they stepped even once out of the line during the entire journey, something once again inside him felt considerable amount of pity and understanding for these small longnecks. All of them had lost someone they loved dearly, whether it was known that their loved ones had perished or not mattered little. Pain made them seek solace from one another, solace that all of them desperately needed.

And yet he would come to quickly regret those sentiments when one of the children accidentally pumped into him with a force enough to send him flying. This time he didn't dare to spare a single emotion brewing inside of him to make them understand he was most displeased with them right now. ''Alright, that's it! I have had enough of you playing around so carelessly! Do you have any idea what might happen if you keep this ridiculous game going on like you currently are?''

Of course, he wasn't expecting an answer from any of them, and before they could even think about opening their mouth to say something stupid, Shorty was at it again. ''If a sharptooth hears your cries, how long you think you would last? And don't count on me to save your sorry hides, I already did that once and even if I wanted to, I'm no match for a sharptooth.''

All of them stopped playing without delay as they heard the enraged voice of their newfound guardian and friend. The tone of the older longneck was enough to send of the younger ones hiding behind their elder companions, as if it would have somehow protected them from the wrath of an angry longneck. One of the more brave longnecks cautiously took a hesitant step forward to address Shorty. ''We're sorry if our games are bothering you, but what else are we supposed to do when we move along?''

''Isn't it obvious, kid? Move along _quietly_,'' Shorty snapped. ''In fact, I'd appreciate some silence once in a while. There's no way anyone could take so much screaming for one day, especially from you lot. What was I thinking when I allowed you to come along with me… I'm such an idiot!''

The group of longnecks knew they had done something serious for Shorty to react that way and deep down they realized they were the ones to blame for this whole fiasco. The green longneck had not only saved one of their own from death, but also instead of simply leaving them to cope by themselves, had chosen to take them with him after a moment of consideration. Guilt hit harder than any blow ever could, it made them feel absolutely terrible and the disgust they felt towards themselves only worsened once Shorty started to ramble again.

''Not only that, but you gave me your word that you would behave yourselves while in my presence, and how long did that promise last exactly?'' Shorty paused to allow them to grasp the idea for themselves and mull it over among each other. It didn't take long until the same timid voice spoke again.

''Not very long…''

''That's right, kiddo! Despite my warnings you still made it your goal to annoy me with your stupid games. How did you even make it this far if you act like this all the time?''

Shorty shook his head. ''You know what? I don't even want to know how that happened exactly. All that matters now is that you cease your games for even momentarily so that I can get some peace around here at last! My life has not been so cushy lately, you know, and there's a limit to my patience which is running quite thin right now!''

They all lowered their heads in regret, hoping to stop the green longneck from doing something incredibly stupid when he was obviously trying to hold himself back from launching into yet another fit of rage and possibly even refraining from harming the children in any way.

This argument had grown from nowhere into an raging inferno that was soon about to spiral out of control unless the situation was settled somehow and fast. In his rage, Shorty was blind to the frightened looks he received from practically everyone. The words he spoke were hardly even acknowledged until he had already spoken them in such habit, despite being completely true to the tiniest detail was handled in a very wrong kind of way.

They were suddenly on the opposing sides of the conflict, blind to each other's blight and concerns. Both sides only wanted to do what they thought was the best way to handle things, albeit it was all to no avail in the end. Browntail watched as Shorty's eyes radiated nothing but pure rage and irritation because of the whole situation that was currently brewing in front of them. He had seen the older longneck smile once or twice earlier the day when they introduced one another and while they began to travel together for the time being, at least.

But nothing could've prepared him for what he saw transpire right before his eyes as of this moment, all of it made him shiver uncontrollably in fear, not recognizing the other side of the longneck that had been unprecedented until now. Despite him wishing that he could just crawl under a rock and wait for it all to simply disappear, he knew that the tension between them would have to be broken as soon as possible to avoid any further drama from occurring before it got way out of hand.

In these moments he had been taught to project understanding instead of resorting into his growing anger inside him, but following that lesson hadn't been as easy as he had initially thought. The earlier confrontation between him and the green longneck still very fresh in his memory. Becoming aware of the fact that Shorty was still going on with his rambling he became aware that Shorty had begun to approach them slowly, his intentions unclear to them but all of them assuming the worst was about to happen soon.

Whatever courage Browntail could muster to make the other longneck understand that he was about to do something he might regret later had to be said now or never. He stepped in front of the other children as if to protect them from the bigger longneck that was still approaching them in a slow manner. He heard the small exclamations from his fellow longnecks, but paid no heed to it, all of his attention focused on Shorty. Words flew from his mouth that he never thought he'd even think of, let alone say out loud to anyone. Browntail knew instantly when he saw the look in the other longneck's eyes that he had his undivided attention.

''Alright! You're right about everything, Shorty! We really are just dumb kids, but you have to remember that you saved _this_ stupid kid from almost certain death! Does that sound like someone who doesn't care what happens to others? I mean… you said it yourself, you could've just walked away after hearing my cries for help, but instead of doing that you chose to help me and I couldn't even muster enough courage to admit I was wrong in doing what I did back there!''

Shorty raised a brow in surprise at how adultlike Browntail had just sounded like. It certainly took him by surprise enough so to halt his walk that he had not even became aware was underway quite yet. All of these feelings of anger felt oddly weird to him, so much so that he couldn't focus on anything else besides feeling angry or resentment for anything he could fathom, so it most definitely was a shock to see the young longneck standing in front of him while the others lingered on the background looking very fearful. His line of thought was cut short when Browntail resumed.

''It is not easy for me to admit that I was wrong, Shorty. I am a very stubborn longneck, so stubborn that you could easily mistake me as a threehorn! But… after I saw what doing all of those things earlier did to you and us jumping and fooling around like we were once again in the safety of our parents' gentle care made us forget exactly where we are right now. Not only that… but whom we were travelling with. You see… in our herd our parents never minded us playing while moving from place to place, actually, they encouraged us to play to our hearts content.''

''Yes, they always made sure to remind us never to stray too far away from the herd lest something awful didn't happen to any one of us because we got too careless, and most of the time we listened. However, all of that changed when we were separated from our folks and when we finally had someone to travel with again that we assumed would protect us from threats after so heroically saving one of us, we figured we could play like that again and you wouldn't mind it one bit. Obviously, we were more than wrong about that.''

By now the other children had raised their heads after hearing the rousing speech from Browntail, giving them enough bravery to look into the eyes of the now more blatantly collected longneck. Browntail's words made something snap inside Shorty and he quickly became aware of what had transpired before. The thoughts of actually wishing to hurt these small longnecks, no matter how annoying they might be, was unthinkable to imagine could've happened had it not been for Browntail's quick thinking.

''So yes, we are deeply sorry for all the discomfort we have caused with our actions just now, Shorty,'' Browntail said sincerely. ''But we truly wish to travel with you as long as we possibly can, because together we stand a better chance at either finding our folks or a place where we can rest and not worry about being attacked by predators or whatnot. That is what we wish for, Shorty.'' All of the other children nodded in agreement and had even begun to approach Shorty once their initial anxiety had died down. How was it that few simple words could bring long buried emotions in a blink of an eye, Shorty mulled. He thought that was what grownups meant by leaving things be and not go walking into the past so blindly and without caution. Perhaps it was only selfishness to return, to make others feel as miserably as you did because something made you think it would ease your own bad feeling.

Shorty's thoughts were like a strange ocean to an onlooker, he contemplated whether to speak of them and risk making things worse once more. His desire to face his fears instead of running from them returned to him at once. He didn't know when he began to hide his emotions compared to speaking about them to someone to help ease the tension on his shoulders. Still, there would be things he wouldn't reveal to just anyone, least of all someone he had only met like a few days ago or so. Even if it was in his nature to hide his real emotions from those he didn't know quite well or trust enough for them to know, it didn't feel good to simply pile all of those negative thoughts together and hope they never bothered him again. Albeit his patience was known to be very short one, perhaps he could attempt to change for the better one day to ensure such a fiasco wouldn't happen again, especially with someone he could even one day grow very close to.

The emotions trundled through his head with no intention of stopping their onslaught. As he watched all of the longnecks gather around him all trace of his now extinct rage completely quashed away, he couldn't help but relent under their kind gazes, apparently understanding his very fragile mental state. He hadn't revealed to any of them from where he had come from or even his past, and it would no doubt stay like that for a long time. If the time came for him to reveal his history, then he subconsciously hoped they wouldn't abandon him to his own devices.

Shorty sighed deeply before opening his mouth to address the group. ''Look… I am sorry that I got so mad just now… dealing with all of these emotions inside you is something I never wish to experience ever again. Even if you are somewhat annoying I couldn't ever fathom of harming you, especially now.''

''It's okay, Shorty,'' Browntail said with a faint smirk. ''Are you okay now?''

''Yeah… I am as well as I can be,'' Shorty stated while looking into every one of the group for an encouraging smile. ''Thank you for those words, Browntail. I must ask, how did you manage to think about them like that in such a small amount of time while I was busy glaring at you with all my might?''

''Well… I guess I have a little bit of my parents in me, you know, being a child of the herd leader, after all!''

Shorty chuckled softly. ''Yeah, it seems you do, even if I never meet them I can honestly say that they raised quite a child. I mean, no one has ever stood up against me in such a way like you, Browntail. It was… very impressive, to be honest.''

As much as Browntail would have liked to savor the feeling of achieving something on his own, he realized now was hardly the right time to be conceited little brat looking for attention and after receiving it wouldn't had let anyone forget about it for a long time. The attention he had thus far drawn upon himself made him blush, he shrank away behind one of the other longnecks around his age and the group shared a brief laugh at his antics, even Shorty couldn't help but let out a small-scale laugh.

The momentarily cheerful moment was cut short when the group began to hear loud footsteps approach them faster than they would have liked. The approaching steps had the distinct sound of someone very big nearing their position. It was plainly simple that their owner lacked the means of walking sneakily, a feat that would be desired by almost everyone in the world to make their life more easy in terms of remaining undetected by hostiles or survival in the cruel world they were forced to live in.

Whoever was coming towards them seemingly considered themselves to be untouchable, and whilst Shorty and the children slinked behind a set of small bushes to hide themselves away from a possible threat to their lives, the footsteps only became louder and louder as they approached, announcing their arrival to everyone on the vicinity. Despite his growing fear due to not knowing who was this mysterious being they were about to encounter soon enough, Shorty couldn't help but be curious to see who would walk so fearlessly.

Shorty could tell even with only his sense of hearing and eyes closed something about the passer-by. Erratic steps usually always belonged to either a child or a frightened individual in fear of something to their existence. Tentative most of the time conveyed of a smart person in question, someone who wouldn't let their guard down for even a brief moment, even if they were in a familiar setting. But these footsteps, however, told an entirely different story.

Their owner definitely wasn't an erratic child, that much was obvious because of the loud booming sound they made when their feet impacted on the ground, shaking the earth in an almost frenzied manner. But one could already surmise that the owner didn't lack in terms of being careful or smart as the footsteps hardly ever diverged from their path, only moving to their desired destination which just happened to be the exact location where Shorty and his companions currently were at, and the adolescent wasn't certain he wanted to meet this individual should they prove to be hostile. But nothing in this person's demeanor screamed danger thus far to them, so maybe it wasn't all bad. Then again, assuming the worst was sometimes a much needed action one had to take in order to stay on the right path.

As the footsteps finally reached their position, Shorty was almost glad and anxious at the same time to notice that they had suddenly stopped altogether. Part of him had prayed this stranger would only walk past them and all of them could go their separate ways and not face any unnecessary risks from making the wrong decision on this matter if the figure turned out to be quite not so granting of sparing them. Eventually, the tension was too much to bear any longer and Shorty had to have some answers about this individual as soon as possible, he took a cautious step away from the bushes, ignoring the fearful gazes of his companions, poked his head out to take a brief glimpse of the stranger, preferably before they could detect him as if it turned out to be a sharptooth then all of their lives were as good as forfeit.

The first thing he saw was a big brown foot, which was not exactly a surprise as he was already well aware of the fact that the person in question was a big dinosaur. However, as he took a closer look it quickly became aware that all of his fear were unfounded as the individual definitely wasn't a sharptooth when Shorty directed his gaze upwards to meet the stranger's gaze whom had apparently already noticed him long before Shorty had even become aware of. What shocked him the most was that the person was another longneck. Even so, he wasn't about to let his guard down just because this one was a longneck instead of an sharptooth, you could never be too careful with people you didn't know yet, as he himself had become very familiar with that fact in recent days. Before he could have a chance to question the longneck about what they wanted, the stranger spoke in a clear and calm tone and Shorty noticed pretty fast that this one was a male.

''You don't have to fear me, little one. I will not harm you or your friends hiding under that bush.''

Shorty's eyes widened. ''How did you-''

''Because I saw someone's brown tail sticking out from the foliage just now, they're not really good at hiding, are they?'' There was a teasing tone in his voice, suggesting that he had found the idea of young longnecks hiding under the bushes and failing miserably at it rather entertaining, although he didn't probably mean it to mock them it certainly seemed like that to Shorty and he suspected his companions did as well. As if sensing his internal thinking, a loud slap could be heard as someone's tail impacted with another's face, causing the receiver of it to cry out in pain.

''Ow! What was that for?!''

''You just couldn't keep your tail tucked in, could you, Browntail? You're lucky it wasn't a sharptooth that caught us, otherwise I fear you might have lost that tail of yours altogether!''

''Did you really have to hit me with yours that hard, though?''

''Yeah, I did. Better learn from your mistakes and make sure they don't repeat ever again because there might not be next time, Browntail! You should know that better than anyone by now!''

''Are you implying something?''

''What if I am?''

''Oh, that's it! Come here!''

''Do they always act like this?'' The adult longneck whispered to Shorty after lowering his head to his level, a hint of amusement in his tone.

''No, and thankfully so, otherwise I probably wouldn't even be here right now,'' Shorty whispered back, but was quick to move away from the stranger, still sceptical about his intentions. He whistled to get his companions attention and the momentarily playful argument was put on a hold as they were quick to move behind him, eyeing the larger longneck warily.

He smiled softly after seeing the children take cover behind the adolescent longneck in fear of him. He lowered his head down once more to take a closer look at each of them, eyeing one for a brief moment before turning to the next in line for inspection. It all irked Shorty greatly and he made sure to always keep the children behind him all the while glaring at the other longneck fiercely, tempting him to make a wrong move. ''Do you mind by any chance of stopping what you are doing right now? You're scaring them.''

The adult lowered his eyes, consenting with Shorty's request as he took a step back. ''I am sorry, but I had to make sure none of you were whom I am looking for. And sadly, you are not what I have been searching for a long time now.''

Shorty was curious as to what the adult meant by that. ''What do you mean?''

''I have been searching for my son for a while, to no avail. It's starting to look like I will never find him in the end. The name is Bron, by the way. I must also ask of you that by any chance have you encountered any other longnecks around your age?''

Shorty was quick to shake his head in denial. ''Nope, these kids are all whom I have seen,'' he glared at Bron. ''Not that it's any of your concern, really.''

Bron nodded. ''Well, I thank you anyway, and you are correct, it is not any of my business to worry about, but I can't help but wonder how exactly have you children managed thus far relatively well? Judging by your appearance you haven't had any lack of food lately, and now that I think about it, where are your parents at? It is dangerous to be out here by yourselves and without any real protection.''

Shorty contemplated whether to reveal to Bron what he knew about the children so far. A part of him was reluctant to comply, but what was the harm of revealing only some parts of the whole case he knew so little about? And this longneck had barely shown any act of aggression during their entire encounter with one another, so perhaps it would be beneficial to converse with him. For all he knew the longneck could also know something about his companions parent's fates and if they were still alive. A slim chance, but one nevertheless and Shorty was damned if he were to pass perhaps his only chance of finding out useful information.

''I suppose there's no harm in revealing that part. Right guys?'' He asked his companions, who nodded warily, still apprehensive about Bron's intentions themselves and how they fit into all of that. ''I found them some time ago trying to cross fast water and might I add what a ridiculous idea that was from the very beginning, apparently they had been separated from their parents due to that earthshake a few days earlier. I suppose you know about it as well, huh?''

Bron nodded, urging him to continue.

''Anyway, long story short, I saved one of them from dying and they so _generously _asked me to take them with me and they wouldn't take no for an answer, let me tell you that much. They were quite insistent on not being left alone after spending all that time by themselves after they got separated from their herd, so I begrudgingly took them with me and here we are.'' Shorty made sure not to mention about their earlier argument to Bron, he didn't wish to find out what his reaction to that would have been. Some things were better left forgotten for eternity.

''That is saddening to hear, indeed,'' Bron replied sympathetically, lowering his head to the children's level once more and this time he was glad to see them not react so much as frightened like before, albeit they still didn't exactly trust the adult longneck with their lives, the earlier tension was long gone. ''I know how you feel, little ones… I wish more than anything that one day you will find your families again and be reunited.''

''Which reminds me about something I wanted to ask of you,'' Shorty said. ''Have you encountered any longneck herds lately with missing children? There's a chance that they could've been their families.'' He pointed to the young children.

''I'm afraid that I haven't met with any longneck herds, or even other herds for that matter in a long time. I have only crossed paths with either lone travelers or hungry sharpteeth, who have been relatively weak in numbers lately, which is something to rejoice very much so. It appears that the earthshake has affected all of us in more ways than one. ''Bron answered melancholy.

Shorty groaned. ''That's just great…''

A long silence ensued while everyone thought about the growing desperation that was suddenly starting to affect all of them at once. Life certainly hadn't been very hospitable for them lately as the previous day's events heavily suggested and they would more than likely only become worse and worse as time passed, which meant that in order to survive one had to be willing to do anything to survive. It was simply survival of the fittest right now, and no matter how malign it was, unfortunately it was all they had as of now. There would come a time when peace would reign once again, but the worst would had to be faced before that time would come.

''I must ask of you children, what is your plan for the future now? Surely you don't mean to travel from place to place in search of something you might not even find out there, and especially since you've been without protection so far, I cannot no longer in good conscience keep going on my way without making sure that you kids will be alright,'' Bron broke the long silence with his words.

''Actually, that was kind of our plan,'' Shorty said nonchalantly.

''Not like we had anything better to do,'' Browntail murmured.

Rest of the children were quick to shake their heads in agreement with their two companions' words, much to Bron's disappointment.

''Journeying across the world when you don't even have a clear destination in mind?'' Bron shook his head. ''That's a very good way to get yourselves severely hurt at some point or worse, get you all killed. Is that what you want?''

''Then what you suggest we do, huh?'' Shorty pointed out angrily. ''We are not big like you and no matter if we would put our minds together to formulate prudent plan of action we can never achieve the things you can!''

''With me you can.''

Bron's words confounded all of them, Shorty most of all.

''What do you mean by that?'' Shorty asked.

''Why, by coming with me, of course,'' Bron answered as it was the most obvious thing in the world.

''Go with you? To where?''

''Wherever the road takes us, young ones,'' Bron responded to Shorty in an inviting tone, desiring to offer the children a place much safer than they had right now.

''Like I said, I'm not about to leave young children to survive on their own out here. That's downright way to a path of no return from. Not to mention it would be considered very cruel and very much against my ideals to abandon you here all alone. Which is why I cannot do that to you.''

Some form of scepticism still lingered on Shorty, but the invitation was a tempting one to take. Still, if it seemed too good to be true that was because it usually was. However, Shorty couldn't dismiss the fact that Bron's offer seemed very genuine and his tone never betrayed his body language. Even so, could he trust himself to make this decision for all of them? He wasn't about to let Browntail or any of the other kids decide such a big decision that would affect all of them. But having a fully-grown longneck by your side was a very good way to discourage any sharpteeth from attacking them head on, and while they hadn't had any unfortunate encounters with them thus far, it would be one less worry in the end for all of them.

Nevertheless, that sinking feeling wouldn't leave his mind that should they follow Bron everything would change in a blink of an eye to something they hadn't anticipated, something that would bring only chaos at the end of the day, and the thought of that ever taking place made Shorty almost make a irrational decision right then and there. When he looked at his companions the only thing he saw was pure faith in the adult longneck to save them from despair. Only children weren't as smart as adults or Shorty were, hence being unable to make a level-headed verdict while considering all aspects from different angles.

But what if he was wrong, wrong about everything his mind had come up thus far? That despite his feeling of hesitation to accept the most generous offer they had been given, what if all of that was completely and utterly true in the end? If that was so, then all of their problems really would start to disappear one at a time, or they would face new ones subsequently later, and the feeling of unknown in that case made Shorty feel lightheaded. He took notice that while he had been contemplating inside his mind what was the best course of action, Browntail had took the mantle of speaking for the group in Shorty's stead.

''You would really do that for us? For real?''

Bron nodded while smiling broadly. ''As real as the world before you is, lad. I would be more than willing to grant you any possible chance to live a far better life than this, wouldn't you agree?''

Browntail was so enthusiastic that he started to jump all around while screaming in delight, which made some of the others join him on the fun. It all reminded Shorty of what had transpired just moments before and the shame he felt for not being able to keep his emotions in check. He shook his head, reminding himself not to waste time on the past any more than he already had in the past few days.

Bron smiled even more widely after seeing the children start to get extremely happy of the notion that all of their worries would soon be over. However, when he locked gazes with the only one who wasn't celebrating, he couldn't help but frown in confusion. Just why exactly wasn't the green longneck joining them on their moment of celebration? It all didn't make one ounce of sense to him. He would have figured that by now even the most suspicious of the group had abandoned his suspicions about him and his intentions.

But that hadn't happened. Even now the kid still gazed at him with that same look he had received from him earlier. It all made Bron wonder what this poor kid had been through to become so untrusting of others he didn't know very well. Still whatever his reasons for doing such a thing, Bron couldn't fault him for that. He had seen many dinosaurs even lose their minds over the tragedies they had faced. Once that happened, they were never the same as before and he suspected that something similar had happened to the kid as well not too long ago. Bron only hoped that one day he could open up about it to someone, even if it wasn't him. Keeping those feelings inside of you for too long never did any good to anyone. He would know that better than anybody.

He forced a weak smile and eventually when the loud noises of the children had died down, more than likely wondering themselves now for the first time why their lone companion wasn't joining them, prompted for him to speak freely about his insecurities with a friendly nod in his direction and words of encouragement. ''I see you still have some qualms about this, don't you? You can speak freely, I will not judge you for it, and neither will they.'' He gestured towards the children, who approved with nods of their own.

Shorty gave a weak nod in reply and spoke his mind. ''Concerning your intentions… I want to believe you can grant us all of those things you said, but it is not as easy for me to blindly trust someone unlike they would. And despite what you claim I still have my doubts about all of that, including you. I mean, would you trust a complete stranger yourself if you were in my position?''

''I can understand your hesitation to accept, but like I have mentioned already, you have nothing to fear from me. I only wish to help you. Yes, I would like you to take up on my offer like your friends have, but if you don't wish to join I will not force you to do anything you're not comfortable with.''

''But… I also mentioned that I would soon rather die than leave young children out here all alone, and that's still my intention. I cannot make you cooperate, but I will also not allow you to get yourself needlessly killed, young one. You have far too much to live for before it's your time to leave this world.''

Shorty scowled. ''You don't know a thing about me or what I've been through.'' It came as a whisper, but Bron got the idea from his body language alone to figure out the fact that he wasn't exactly okay with whatever had happened to him in such a short time span, Bron could figure out as much by merely looking at his features and the fact that despite his brave show of bravado he put together, his eyes told another story entirely. A story about a broken soul that could possibly be even beyond repair by now.

''That may be true, I will probably never know how much hardship you've had to go through lately, such a thing should never happen to a child your age. Childhood should be cherished while it lasts, because when it's over, you will realize what a cruel world is waiting for you out there. The only choice you can make is will you face that alone or will you join like-minded individuals to counter those effects to the best of your ability to do so.''

''I didn't know you were so sappy.''

Bron laughed. ''There are many things you don't know about me, boy. Would you like to know more? The way to that is right here in front of you. Come with us and who knows? You might learn some valuable lessons that you didn't even dare to imagine.''

Shorty couldn't help but feel somewhat frustrated with how his mind was working right now, one moment he was all for joining with Bron alongside his newfound allies, then his mind took a complete turn and then he was wondering why such a notion would've ever come to his mind in the first place. He wished he could stop asking all of these pointless questions in his mind that he had already been through once during the entire exchange and why couldn't he had firmly stick on one option instead of numerous? None of it made any damn sense to him, something that was starting to be a norm by now.

So he begged and begged for even a brief chance of respite from all the noises inside his head to stop screaming all at once like they were the only ones in the right whereas the others were only going to lead them astray. So many choices in the end, but he had the tedious task of only choosing one of them in the end, which was proving to be an impossible task to succeed in right now.

On the other side, Browntail could not help but frown in perturbation by how long Shorty's decision was taking. Why couldn't he simply do the best course of action, to take Bron's offer on joining forces with him, it was like a dream come true, after all, so it was mildly put that he was most puzzled by the turn of events. He couldn't handle the silence for another minute, so he yelled loudly to the struggling longneck. ''Shorty! Please, come with us! It will all be okay in the end, you'll see!'' His voice was quite enthusiastic, seemingly his earlier mood hadn't dampened at all. ''Bron here wants to help us! Don't you?''

He wordlessly nodded.

And just like that, the sensation of hesitation once again came about to nag Shorty once more with its annoying tendency to put thoughts in his head he wasn't sure he liked very much or in worst case scenario, put words in his mouth. It felt like he was rehearsing this conversation again and again to prepare for an imposing speech to a herd awaiting for him to start speaking to them. It had to end now, one way or another. Sharing a brief glance with the brownish longneck who once again was nothing short but amazed by his variable mood to affect matters like he wanted it to happen.

Now that he was certain he had made his decision for the last time, he silenced all of the other thoughts crying out to him to reconsider for a moment about the path he was about to take which would hopefully change his entire life for better once more. But when he was about to consummate his course of action, to his surprise he found out that his mouth had gone dry and no amount of willpower would allow him to utter the words he desperately wanted to let out. Then the thought of actually being able to do this resurfaced. He shook his head, forcing all of the negative emotions out of his mind before they had a chance to manifold. He raised his head and spoke the words he'd been waiting to release all this time.

''Very well. I accept your offer to accompany you on your journey,'' Shorty said. ''For how long that may last.'' He added silently.

It didn't take even a full two seconds until all of the children once again gave into their childish tendencies and started to jump around and scream in delight, no more so than Browntail himself whom practically leaped towards Shorty in an attempt to hug him tightly. The green longneck managed to swiftly jump out of the way sideways before that could happen, frowning in disapproval of his attempted act.

''The original rules still stand, squirt,'' Shorty said accusingly. ''You'd do best to remember them well, especially from now on.''

''No promises, Shorty!''

Bron's loud laugh attracted their attention back to him. ''I think we're going to enjoy each other's company very much so.''

''How so?'' Shorty asked indifferently.

''Call it a hunch,'' Bron smiled one last time and began to walk away from the scene, gesturing them to follow him. After a moment, Shorty started to follow after them.

''Be careful what you wish for, you haven't seen what those little annoying kids can do to you quite yet, but you will soon enough. I wonder, will you still say the same as you are right now or will your bravado finally fall apart?'' Shorty pondered noiselessly while a devious smirk formed on his lips by just envisioning sight of a poor and helpless adult longneck facing unruly children. ''All the same, that moment will be worth waiting for.''

* * *

A faint sigh escaped from the longneck's lips, his brain struggling to process everything that had happened in the short time span of his new living with complete strangers was becoming sort of a habitual thing by now and he had enough time to get used to the life he now faced. The sigh was resigned and weary, signaling the end of deliberate effort and the beginning of passive deterioration. The action was so quiet that it went unnoticed by everyone around him, it's sound and movement dissipated out into the vastness of the world and made no effect at all. It was the pivotal turning point of the longneck's life, the moment when everything would change for better or worse remained to be seen.

In the darkness of the night when he closed his eyes and allowed his other emotions do the job for him, he could almost picture himself back in his former home again, a place where his dreams of life may flow freely in the wind. The lingering light from the Night Circle shone above the herd, rapidly swallowing any remaining light from the Bright Circle which was rapidly starting to fall down behind the mountain range, making way for the night once again.

A canopy of luminous stars materialized amongst the ocean of blackness, some were dull, merely flickering into existence every now and then, but there was an adequate amount of shimmering stars to illuminate the dark night. A small lake beside his temporary nest glistened, mirroring the dazzling assemblage of glittering stars and the luminescence that lined the soil. The faint wind brushed against the surface of the water, unsettling the reflection of the greenish longneck.

It had been a good few days since they joined forces with Bron and during that time there had been some mildly interesting events developing around them. They had barely travelled a day's worth until they encountered some other longnecks on their way and they had been quick to demand joining with them, explaining that there was strength in numbers after all, just like Bron had with them. Naturally, they had been accepted to travel with them and it didn't take long until more and more longnecks joined with them. And before long, they had become a full fledged herd, one that was over twice the size of Shorty's former one.

But that hadn't been the end of these strange events, as the children that had been travelling with them shockingly found some of their own folks they had been separated from initially. After the happy reunions had passed and the children were once again in the safety of their families care, Shorty couldn't help but feel a bit… low-spirited. He had spend considerable amount of time with these young ones and had even gotten somewhat attached to them. The one thing he didn't like about this was that not all of the children found their families in the end, only making them feel more miserable as they witnessed the happy reunions of the other families in silence.

Yet, they had been quickly adopted to other families, most of whom didn't even have their own children for some reason or another. They wouldn't ever replace their real families, but they would once again have that special someone who would look after their every need when they needed it the most. The only one that hadn't been adopted into any family was Shorty himself, and he didn't quite know what to feel about that outcome.

On one hand he didn't have any desire to join another family after losing the one he had loved the most, and thinking about those painful memories only brought his faith down the more he thought about everyone he had lost. Still, he thought about what it would like to have that kind of life again with someone else, albeit they really weren't his real parents and whatnot, the sentiment was still there nonetheless. Someone cleared their throat behind him, snapping him from his inner thoughts abruptly.

''Are you okay, Shorty?'' Bron asked with caution, aware of the fact that the young longeck was in need of company more than ever right now after being alone for considerable amount of time, the baritone of his voice reverberating through Shorty's bones as he rotated around to face the other longeck and locked eyes with him, watching him intensely.

''I'm fine,'' Shorty said quietly, devoid of enthusiasm. He then chuckled quietly after seeing the worry in his eyes as the one thing he didn't wish right now was pity from anyone, least of all from him, even if Shorty could admit that he wasn't so bad once you got to know him better.

He saw the brief look flash across his face before Shorty could stop himself from making himself feel like that, a small sad smile played on Bron's lips as he gazed at Shorty' eyes, prompting him to tell the truth instead of lying to his face like he believed it would've worked in the end. ''Really, I'm fine. Just… tired, is all.''

Bron nodded in understanding. It had certainly been a long day they were just now starting to put behind them hopefully for the last time and despite his wish to be beside the green longneck after being left alone by his former companions, albeit unintentional, must have hurt him more than he showed. But because he was now leader of the herd they had put together only a few days ago he had to focus most of his time managing the herd and protecting them from possible dangers lurking around, hence not being able to stay near him most of the time even if he wished otherwise. ''Indeed it has and I am sure that there will be many more like it in the future.''

''But I am here to see how you are doing, Shorty, and judging by your expression you're not doing as well as you say. I am not here to talk to you as a leader, instead I'm here to talk to you as a friend, just like before.''

Shorty's face fell faster than sky water hit the ground. In that instant his mouth hung open with lips slightly parted and eyes as wide as they could stretch in his sockets. Apparently his attempt to discourage Bron from asking him all of the questions that were bound to come sooner or later had failed in the end as the adult saw right through his carefully made-up façade. He glanced nervously around, hoping to prolong the inevitable for as long as he could, but his hopes were once again crushed as Bron sat down beside him. ''You shouldn't keep those emotions inside of you for far too long, Shorty. Believe me, they will only hurt you more in the end, let them out… I am here for you.''

Something flashed beneath the surface of Shorty's hardened expression and Bron hurried to investigate the sudden shift. It was too late, the emotion disappeared before it could have been identified, like reaching desperately for something you couldn't catch no matter how hard you tried, dangling so tantalizingly close, but in the end it was lost forever.

Shorty couldn't help but compare the night with his own state of mind, his insides were in a chaos. A mess. Something was bothering him. Something was hurting him. Something ached inside him. Something felt so wrong, so invalid but he couldn't tell what. He tried to pinpoint the cause for this unexplained pain but failed. He tried to reason this unbearable burning but didn't find any. Everything felt so confused, just like a jumbled set of a puzzle. A puzzle he didn't know how to solve without help, but that required him to reveal his feelings to someone and he wasn't certain if he was ready for that.

The nausea swirled unrestrained in his empty stomach, head swam with half-formed regrets. The melancholy mood overhang Shorty like a black cloud, raining his personal sorrow down wherever he went, grating his nerves more and more. Eventually, all of that was too hard to hold onto and he knew that the only way to probably stop these feelings from resurfacing ever again was to reveal to the one who was willing to help him all that he felt, no matter how bleak and depressing it might have been. His words sounded hollow, but his fortitude was all time high at that moment. ''Alright… if that really will make things feel a lot better, I will do it… I can't stand these emotions anymore!''

Bron gestured with a curt nod to let Shorty know to take his time explaining his feelings, knowing it wouldn't do anyone any good if he just decided to rush things to get through it a lot faster, the green longneck took that gesture in good faith and began to recount his story to Bron from before they encountered each other that day. Words left Shorty before he had become even aware of thinking of speaking, as if his mind had a mind of its own and didn't care about his feelings on the matter at all.

Shorty was sure to keep an eye for Bron's reactions at the same time when their conversation was taking place, but to his surprise his eyes seemed to be as mobile as the rest of his large body was, not making even the tiniest amount of movement the entire time. Shorty started to think whether the other longneck was even listening to a word he said, but all thoughts about that disappeared when he saw him look at him in pity when he revealed what happened to his mother. He didn't want it, pity wouldn't bring his mother back no matter how hard he missed her and wished her to be right here beside him.

When Shorty had finally said all that was to be said about his past, he looked deeply into Bron's eyes, waiting for any kind of a reaction from him other than pity he had been shown earlier. He swallowed deeply and closed his eyes for a brief moment to probably compose some form of a response and eventually Bron opened his eyes and spoke. ''I see… you have been through more than enough, far more than some others have in their entire lives…''

Shorty's gaze lowered to the ground, not being able to look him in the eyes any longer. ''So… are you happy now that you know what I've been through?''

''I am glad that you chose to speak to me about your feelings, Shorty, but this… I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you that something terrible had happened to you, but I couldn't fathom it would be this… serious at all in the end…''

Silence reigned for a long time until Shorty finally raised his gaze up once more, flabbergasted when he felt the other longneck nudge him softly to get him to focus on him again. ''All of that reminded me of my own mate and child who is still out there somewhere. Like you, I lost something I loved dearly and I wasn't even there when it happened. I only heard about my mate's death from someone I didn't even know beforehand.''

At that moment only did Shorty remember what Bron had said to them about his missing family and he realized that they were connected in more ways than one. They both knew how painful it was to lose someone you loved, but in Bron's case it was more severe as he had no clue what happened to his child after all. That had to hurt over million times more hard than what Shorty had gone through. Sure, he lost his mother and practically saw her die in front of him, but actually losing someone you barely even knew existed in the first place and could do nothing about that was hell of a lot worse fate to befall.

''You told me about your child and not having any idea where they might be right now… Do you have plans to seek them out eventually?'' Shorty carefully asked while anticipating Bron to react in some way be it sadness, anger or something else entirely. He hoped he hadn't unwittingly just caused him to react in a way that would be pernicious as that wasn't his intention in the first place. But all of his fears were unfounded as the longneck answered to him in a calm and soothing tone. ''Yes, that was my plan, but it hasn't exactly worked out well considering that my child could be anywhere right now and going blindly out there without a sense of direction would only hinder me further. Not only that, I have responsibilities now to my herd and keeping them safe. Including you and that's something I can't abandon no matter my personal feelings about it.''

''But… I hope that one day I will be able to meet my child, whether that moment is days from now or even seasons from now, one day I hope to have that peace of mind and not constantly think or worry about them being in danger or… even worse.'' Bron said in a crestfallen tone, seemingly blaming himself for not being there when he was needed the most and Shorty could understand that better than ever before. Before him laid nothing of the anterior brave and fearless longneck that he had gotten the pleasure to know. Now only thing that remained in front of him was a broken father with a new purpose in life.

Shorty's words sounded hollow in Bron's ears, but he appreciated the sentiment to ease his mind even just a little bit when he heard the green longneck speak for the first time in a while. ''I do hope that one day you will meet your child, but you were right about not knowing when that chance eventually will come to pass by, or even if at all. There's just too many unknowns here at play.''

''For a kid your age you are pretty smart one, and you're correct about not knowing when and even if such a chance will be granted to me. If not, I at least hope that my child is living a life worth living for and if I do receive another chance at being a father I will never let that child down again, that much I promise myself.'' Bron nodded solemnly.

''However, back to the topic at hand. When I said that you have place among this herd I truly meant it, Shorty. Life has not been kind to you thus far and I want to make that better in any way I possibly can. I have seen that no adult has adopted you yet and that honestly makes me feel saddened, I'm sure that any adult that's worthy of being your guardian wouldn't hesitate on the chance to take such a talented kid like you into their family, of that I am most certain of.'' Bron said truthfully to the longneck beside him, making Shorty freeze a bit in his attempt to relay at least some kind of a admissible response.

''Yeah… perhaps one day, but it doesn't look like that right now as far as I'm concerned. I thought I could get used to the idea eventually, but it's far harder than I ever could have anticipated. I am really starting to believe that there's simply no family fit enough to take me to be one of them.'' Shorty said miserably in resignation.

''You just haven't found the right kind of a family that's made for you, Shorty. All of your friends whom you accompanied with ever since the day you saved one of them from drowning certainly speaks against that. Those kids have nothing but clear confidence in you and your abilities. Do you really believe they would have been so insistent on staying with you all this time?''

Shorty couldn't help but start laughing widely all of a sudden, catching Bron off guard for a while and starting to make him feel a bit worried at Shorty's antics. He could reflect in his mind for a long time what had caused such a reaction from the green logneck, but ultimately decided to ask him straight from himself. ''What's so funny?''

''I just can't stop thinking about that face you made when they wouldn't stop jumping and screaming around you and begging you to carry them all the time, even when they weren't tired at all. The glances you would trade with me about that always made me feel a bit giddy inside, but I always had to suppress the laugh that would have come out if I dared to open my mouth to say anything at all!'' Shorty giggled in delight of that memory that seemed like a distant one right now, but still very firmly stored in his memory for all time. It would have been a great loss indeed to let that memory go, after all.

Bron quickly got the idea of what Shorty was talking about and he couldn't help but join him on laughing about the whole ordeal after a while. It really was a moment that Bron hadn't been expecting to happen so soon with his newfound companions, but it was a welcome gesture nonetheless that showed they trusted him deeply. ''You knew something like that was going to happen sooner or later, didn't you?'' His tone was a taunting one when he spoke to Shorty after their guffaws came to an end.

''I had a hunch something like that would happen. What gave me away?''

''I saw that brief smirk on your face when you weren't paying attention to anything in particular for a while, and it was enough to convey to me that either you had something planned or something was going to happen sooner or later and it didn't even take half a day until it did.'' Bron smiled fondly while letting a few more chuckles escape from his lips.

''Ah, well… at least I tried to act like nothing was going to happen…'' Shorty snorted.

Shorty laid back on the grass, feeling himself slowly starting to fall asleep before sparing a brief look at Bron's direction when he couldn't stop a soft sigh escape from his muzzle. Bron only smiled at the display and gestured for him to simply go to sleep as he needed it more than ever if they were to continue their journey the next day. No words were needed between them as they both began to search for a comfortable position in order to sleep without interruptions on that part. Shorty closed his eyes and drew in a lung full of fresh air. He couldn't stop bad things from happening to him or someone he cared about, but he could live his new life to the fullest and not allow despair break him now when he had conquered his worst fears.

In his quiet contemplation he could think of all the dearest memories he had from his friends and family without fearing that a nightmare would cut that moment off too early. The people he had once cherished were no longer with him physically, but they would always remain with him as long as he remembered them clear as day and what really mattered to him right now was to be with his new companions more than ever as they understood him like no other had. He would have thought that finding this happiness again would be an impossible goal to achieve, but here he was… amidst those who he wouldn't give up for the world a second time now that he had finally achieved even that brief chance of felicity once more and nothing made him feel more peaceful and content with his life in that moment of tranquillity.

* * *

**And thus concludes my entry for the Gang of Five's August prompt. Writing this story definitely took me a while, but it was all very much fun in the end and I am most satisfied with the results. Since this will be my last fic for the time being as the prompt challenge is on a hiatus until December, there probably won't be any new stories released until then. I hope that you enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it, albeit it was a hinder due to recent developments in my personal life.**


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